


What Are the Odds?

by Kaylessa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Post Season 2, super-duper mild spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-25 16:11:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10767792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaylessa/pseuds/Kaylessa
Summary: Rolo claims to be a part of a rebel group fighting against the Galra. Matt seems to have been rescued from the Galra by a rebel group. What are the odds they'd run into each other? Better yet, what are the odds Team Voltron would find out?





	1. Mistaken Identity

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a post on Tumblr a while back (that I apparently didn't reblog like I should have, because now I can't find it) suggesting the idea that with Matt being rescued by a group of rebels, it might be possible that we'll be seeing Rolo again in Season 3, what with his apparent ties to Galra resistance. The idea kind of stuck with me, so here you have a little three-part drabble to expand on that notion...

“The information I found on my brother says he was taken by a group of rebels. He's still out there.”  


“Matt's a lot like you. He's a survivor. We'll find him.”

***

“Rolo, I swear, if you ever try to pull a stunt like that again, you're going to have to find yourself another copilot,” Nyma threatened her captain as he slouched along ahead of her.  


“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya,” he waved his hand in acknowledgment, then heard her huff to herself and stride off in a different direction. Probably in search of a shower with water that hadn't been recirculated twenty times in a quintant and was warmer than tepid. He probably ought to look into getting that fixed, actually, while they were in a safe port...  


He might not have noticed the small group of people entering the common area across the way from him had it not been for Beezer's sudden agitated blipping. Startled, Rolo looked around first at his cyber unit, then in the direction it was...well staring isn't exactly the right word...focusing. Beezer was, in fact, focusing very intently across the room and when Rolo looked up to see what it is that had caught its attention, he actually had to blink and rub his eyes a bit.  


“Is that...?” he muttered, half to himself and half to Beezer, but he didn't think the cyber would have caused a fuss if it weren't processing the same thing he was thinking. “What's with the slave outfit, though? What _happened_ to those guys?” He couldn't help the note of concerned urgency in his voice as he made his way across the crowded room, Beezer following in his wake as he cleared a path. Once they reached the group, he started to raise his voice to address them, “Hey you guys, hold up! Paladin, wait!” But while the escort around the tawny-haired individual slowed and acknowledged Rolo, it wasn't until he laid a broad hand on their shoulder that they turned around, startled.  


“Hey! What-?” the young man shrugged off Rolo's hand, backing away as his amber eyes widened in alarm. “Who are _you?”_  


Rolo was confused as well. Even up close, this guy looked _strikingly_ similar to the Green Paladin he had met on that moon so long ago, but there were enough differences to tell them apart, too. Height, for one, which he hadn't been able to gauge until they were facing one another. Voice, too, along with just enough little tells in the structure of his face and the shape of his eyes. And then Beezer was making its own whirring assessment, its audio receptors sliding down the side of its cranium, indicating the robot's disappointment.  


The awkward silence grew as Rolo continued to stare in confusion until the young man in front of him shifted just a little bit farther away. The pilot cleared his throat uncomfortably, “Oh, um, sorry about that. It's just...I thought you were someone else I met a while back. I tell you what, but you look a whole lot like one of the Voltron Paladins.”  


“You probably think all humans look the same,” the pseudo-prisoner grumbled. “How many humans could you have met, anyway? It's not like we've ever traveled this deeply in space.”  


“Humans? Is that what you're called? But yeah, I've met a few, and I swear you and that other one look a lot alike. The whole bunch were with that Altean princess giving the Galra a hard time with Voltron. Anyway, sorry again.” Rolo took a step backwards, turning his body to go with a vague wave of farewell. The human reciprocated the wave, though his eyebrows were still scrunched in confusion. A couple more seconds, though, and he was herded away with his escort to places unknown in the complex. Rolo finished turning around to walk away, the strange encounter bouncing around in his head a bit. He felt like there was something he was missing, but he didn't have all the pieces to put the puzzle together. Beezer also made a discontented whine at his side, its central optic cast down. He laid a hand on its cranium, saying, “Yeah, I know. Sorry, Beez. Weird, huh? What are the odds...?”  


With that said, they merged back into the hustle and bustle of the crowd, Rolo deciding to get some repair work done on his poor old freighter.


	2. Crossed Paths

The bridge on the Castle of Lions was just a little more somber, a little more quiet, in the wake of Shiro's absence. They all did their best to behave normally as they moved forward with their search to find their missing leader, but it all felt strained. So when a proximity alert chimed at Coran's station, everyone jumped a little. 

“Nothing serious,” he quickly assured everyone. “We'll just be passing by a freighter. Not Galra, so nothing to get worked up about.” For security's sake, though, Coran did pull up an enlarged feed of the other ship as it passed near them, just to keep an eye out for any funny business. Hunk took one look at it, did a double-take, then abruptly stood up out of his chair with a shout.

“That's Rolo's ship!” he accused, thrusting a furious finger at the image.

“Wait, what?” Lance exclaimed, sitting up and looking closer, along with everyone else.

“Are you sure?” Pidge asked, though she sounded pretty skeptical.

The Yellow Paladin nodded furiously, bringing a copy of the video feed to his station so he could highlight and indicate what he was talking about. “Look there at the upper rear. It's all new paneling – you can tell by the color – and that's exactly where Keith clawed them up. Plus, you can see where their blasters had to be modified to fit into the existing mounting, not something you'd see if they hadn't been, you know, shot off.”

“Seriously?” Lance complained. “What are the _actual_ odds that we would run into them again?”

“Too good, apparently,” Keith supplied morosely. 

Allura and Coran shared a look, then the princess said, “Hail them. Now is not the time to be caught off guard.” Then, addressing the other four occupants of the bridge, “Be ready for trouble, but hold until I give the order.” Instructions issued, she turned to the front to face the viewscreen as a familiar rogue pilot came into view.

“Well whadda ya know?” Rolo greeted with mild joviality. “It's a pleasant surprise to see you again, Princess.”

“I'm afraid the feeling is not mutual,” Allura responded with a little ice to her tone. Behind Rolo, they noticed Nyma take a discreet glance at the viewscreen, but Lance was currently deeply invested in the properties of his console and didn't see. The pretty alien quickly looked back to her station and didn't glance up again. 

“What brings you all the way out here?” Rolo asked with polite curiosity.

“We could ask the same of you,” the Princess retorted. “Planning another ambush, are you?”

The freighter captain lifted his hands in a gesture of peace, “Hey, we're not out to get on your bad side. Remember that rebel force we talked about last time? Just running an errand for them.” If anyone noticed Pidge stiffen at the word “rebel,” no one made a sign of it. Before anything could be made of that train of thought, though, Rolo abruptly asked an odd question. “By the way, do humans often look a lot alike?”

Lance finally looked up at this, giving the purple alien an incredulous look. “Why? Do you think we all look the same? Because I think you ought to get your eyes checked out, man.”

Rolo shook his head and waved a hand dismissively. “Nah, it's nothing. Must be a fluke, then. Pretty weird that I'd run into someone who looks so much like your Green Paladin there.”

The sudden collective gasp from the bridge of the castle drew his attention sharply, looking up to see everyone staring at him with wide eyes. 

_What the...?_

Then the aforementioned Green one came _tearing_ forward at top speed, nearly knocking the princess over completely in order to get up close and personal with the viewscreen. It was pretty comical, actually, but the expressions on all of their faces killed his laughter. This was something serious.

“Where did you see him?!”

Pidge's friends were alternating between staring at her, then at Rolo, a kind of second-hand hope building for them all on behalf of their youngest crew member. They can see the other pilot is taken aback by Pidge's outburst, but she just continued to barrel forward. “Please, you have to help me! That's my brother Matt and he was taken by the Galra and I've been looking for him! I need to find him, _please!”_

Still leaning away from the viewscreen a bit, Rolo looked over his shoulder at Nyma, as if trying to get her take on the situation. She met his eyes, then kind of blinked and shrugged, turning back to her station with an air of “not my problem.” When the captain turned to look at his cyber unit, however, Beezer nearly fell out of its control unit with a frenzied series of blips and whines, its audio receptors flicking up and down its cranium in a blur, its cable arms flailing wildly. Rolo had to chuckle a little and wave at the little robot to calm down. When he turned back to the viewscreen, there wasn't a smile on his face, but it did have a sort of...softness to it that took even Hunk aback with its sincerity. 

“He was rescued from a Galra prison ship by a team of rebels against the Empire,” he began by saying. Pidge nodded along, this information being concurrent with what she had learned for herself. “When I saw him he had just arrived at a safe port. A lot of ships go in and out of there, but it's also a pretty central hub for organization. I don't know how long he'll be there, but I'm sending you the coordinates now, anyway. That'll be your best bet for getting in touch with him.”

There was a silence as the coordinates translated between ships, then Coran gave Allura a thumbs up, indicating he had received them. A few swift taps at his control panel brought up a projected course. Pidge started to say something, but the princess lifted a hand to gently stop her, stepping forward to be centrally addressing Rolo once more.

“Of course you realize that if this is some kind of trap-” she began.

“Don't worry, it's not!” Rolo quickly assured her. “I've got nothing to gain by lying to you, and that information is worth more than my skin, besides. I just...” he looked away, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. “I just kind of hope that if it works out for you, it'll make up for, you know...last time.”

Everyone on the Castle of Lions exchanged glances at that, more than one lingering with Hunk, as if to get his approval on the alien he had read so well before. When the silent communication was finished, Allura gently placed her hand on Pidge's shoulder and said with matching sincerity, “If it does, then we will be more than even.”

There was another silence, then Pidge piped up, “Is he safe? My brother, is he safe where he is?”

Rolo shrugged, “Well, yeah. I mean it's not like he's being held prisoner anymore. As far as I know, they're having him stay at the base.”

The Green Paladin then took a deep breath, and looked Rolo steadily in the eye, “If you see him again, can you pass on a message for me? Tell him 'Katie is on the way.'”

The alien raised an eyebrow, but nodded anyway, “If I see him, will do.”

“Thank you, Rolo,” Allura said graciously. He gave a sloppy little salute, then the com was terminated.

Everyone was silent as Pidge seemed to compose herself, then she looked around at all the present members of Team Voltron. There was a tension in the air, and she could see the torn expressions on their faces, some more than others, but she knew what they were thinking. They'd had this argument about family before, after all...

“Pidge...” Keith began, speaking in the tone of a person about to deliver bad news in the kindest way he knew how, but she cut him off before he could say more.

“We find Shiro,” Pidge declared clearly and decisively. There was an an intake of breath, then she looked up, steel in her amber eyes. “Matt is as safe as he's gonna get until I get him on this ship here with me. But Shiro...we have no idea. He needs our help more, and...and Matt would understand. I know he would.” Allura's hand, still on her shoulder, squeezed a little in comfort and reassurance. Pidge looked up and met the princess's eyes with a small smile, edging on a little watery. It was a shame, though, that she'd been distracted and didn't notice Hunk's approach and was therefore unprepared for suddenly being swept up into a massive bear hug. Though the petite figure squawked and flailed wildly (and futilely) in his well-meant crushing grip, she was grateful for the tears to be kept at bay for the moment.


	3. Take Notice

Some time after they'd been there last, Rolo and his crew found themselves again at the safe port that served as a secret rebel base. They debriefed to the member that had sent them on their errand in the first place, Rolo scrawled his signature into the system database to receive their payment deposit, and then they were released to their leisure.

The captain led them down a wide hallway, stretching his long arms above his head until he heard several satisfying cracks and pops. “Whadda ya say we catch ourselves some grub? Something fresh to eat sounds really good right about now.” Beezer whined at him in a somehow reproachful tone and he couldn't help but chuckle a bit. “Yeah, Beez, I know, we'll get you that new thermal regulator like I promised.”

“That's not the only thing you promised, remember?” Nyma prodded him in the side as she passed by.

Rolo reflexively dropped his arms to protect his exposed torso from further attack, but she had already moved ahead. “Wait, what?” Hurriedly he wracked his brain for anything he might have said to Nyma to provoke that response. Had he told her he'd fix something on the ship...? Oh no, he couldn't remember...

“To the Paladins,” she clarified in exasperation.

That brought him up short, Beezer rolling right past him before it stopped to turn around and look up at him. “Oh yeah, that Matt kid!” Nyma, however, didn't stop, but continued on, not wanting her captain to see her face just then. For all that she'd seemed indifferent about the whole situation, she couldn't help but want to do at least some part in the reparations for their actions against the Voltron team, even if it was just reminding Rolo of his promise. She might feel the slightest bit of remorse, she just couldn't let her crew know that. After all, she had a reputation to keep.

Rolo, meanwhile, had changed his intended direction, instead seeking out a source of information that could lead him to the human's whereabouts. He had to ask around, Beezer following curiously on his tail, until he finally got good, solid info that, yes, the human named Matt was actually still on the ship, and the 'where' he got from someone _else,_ but he finally had what he wanted and was on the right track to deliver his message. He finally caught up with his target in a smaller dining hall, off the main thoroughfare and so it was much more sparsely populated.

Matt himself was surprised to be approached by the same stranger again, a situation he had thought was a complete fluke the first time. He was no longer wearing the bodysuit and rags of a Galra prisoner, but instead a mismatch of clothing that had been gifted to him. He at least didn't look quite so haggard as last time, either, with more meat on his bones and the dark bags under his eyes lessened. Not that anyone at the station knew what a healthy or unhealthy human looked like anyway...

“Yo, wait up!” the alien called to get his attention. He obliged, though still a touch wary as the other continued, “Matt, right?” 

“Y-yeah,” he stuttered a little, not sure if he should be suspicious or surprised. Why did this purple alien have such an interest in him?

“I'm Rolo, by the way. Didn't really introduce myself, huh? Sorry for getting you confused last time,” the pilot continued with an easy smile. “I figured it out. It makes sense that you look like the Green Paladin, you being siblings and all.”

Whatever Matt had been expecting, it had NOT been that. 

_Siblings...?_

“What...?” he breathed the question. Though his brain was computing the impossibilities, he felt his knees go a little weak and so he groped blindly for the chair he thought was nearby, easing himself down into it. Even the thought of other humans out here might be explained by Shiro or his father, or even some other poor fools exploring space gone missing. But what Rolo was suggesting...did that mean she had been snatched from _Earth?_

Oblivious to the young astronaut's thoughts, Rolo continued, “I'm supposed to tell you, actually, 'Katie is on the way.'”

Matt's head snapped up to stare at this unfamiliar face, suddenly desperate for answers. “Katie? MY Katie? She's out here?! What is she doing _out here?!”_

“Looking for you, apparently,” Rolo responded with a faintly amused snort.

Matt was currently sitting with his head in his hands, bent over his lap, trying to come to grips with this news. He believed in his sister with all his heart, knew the greatness she was destined for, but in the wake of events with the Galra, his life had suddenly felt like it was cracked into two parts, the life he'd left on Earth never to touch the one where he'd been stolen into space beyond the Milky Way. But now one undersized, determined and frighteningly intelligent piece of the Earth life he'd left behind was shoving her way into his new reality. How had she even...?

“Wait,” he looked back up at Rolo. “What did you call her? The green what?” That was significant, somehow, he knew it.

“The Green Paladin, of Voltron,” and the way he said it, with implicit respect in the very words, sent a kind of chill down Matt's spine. Rolo continued, “They've been doing a real number on the Galra empire, I'll tell you that. Rumor has it they seriously mucked up Zarkon's central command, and even maybe took out Zarkon himself.”

Matt can't help but stare a little more, then he started to laugh to himself, covering his face with one hand as his chuckles grew louder and stronger. It just _figures._ It was so KATIE.

A memory stirred, it felt like from so long ago, in that time on the other side of the fissure in his life, but Matt remembered a quiet, sweet moment of normalcy, when Sam Holt apparently waxed prophetic at the dinner table over a last home-cooked meal.

_“Something tells me that you're gonna have your own crew some day and you're gonna fly with them to worlds so far away we can't even imagine. I bet my bottom dollar you're gonna be part of something that makes the whole universe sit up and take notice.”_

“Take notice, indeed,” Matt muttered to himself. “What are the odds...?”


End file.
